


This Ship Sails

by vexednperplexed



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: M/M, a ship on a ship, stare at your crush until they love you back, sumo tossing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22445269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vexednperplexed/pseuds/vexednperplexed
Summary: Shin-ah willfully misunderstands Jae-ha during an argument, and Jae-ha is determined to make sure there's no question about what he meant.--- Don't surprise Shin-ah. You don't know where he'll throw you.
Relationships: Jae-Ha/Shin-Ah (Akatsuki no Yona)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 107





	This Ship Sails

Even though silence was something that often accompanied Shin-ah, Jae-ha was getting rather exhausted from the intent of it. A silent treatment from someone who already avoided speaking if he could… interesting. 

The ocean spray felt amazing as it cooled his skin in the bright sun. It had been so long since he sailed, oh how he’d missed it. This had been a very pleasant trip to Xing, for the most part. Vold and Algira were in Awa on a mission from Kouren, and having been in Awa themselves, the Happy Hungry Bunch offered to sail with them back to Xing. It had been quite some time since they’d found themselves in Xing anyway. They were overdo for a visit. 

As expected, the trip was not entirely silent on the seas. Pirates were inevitable. The ships had been chasing them for a while, and it was a decision by Yona herself to slow down and just fight them. They’d won, of course they had. But while everyone else was celebrating their victory, Shin-ah was walking away, shoulders tense and the air around him thick. Everyone could tell he was angry, but only Jae-ha knew why.

But, Jae-ha wondered as he watched the Blue Dragon sitting on the deck of the ship and sharpening his blade, how long would he stay angry? It had been hours already. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and the air was becoming cool without the direct heat from the sun. The night crew - consisting of Hak, Vold, Yun, and Kija, were sleeping soundly in the last few hours before they took over their shift. 

“What did Green Dragon do?” came Zeno’s voice from beside Jae-ha. He’d been discreetly watching Shin-ah for some time, and hadn’t at all sensed the Yellow Dragon walking up to him.

“Why, whatever do you mean, Zeno?” he asked in a flippant tone, shifting his eyes down to Zeno’s knowing gaze.

“Green Dragon knows what Zeno means.” Zeno turned his face to look over at Shin-ah, who was so focused on the blade in his lap that he seemed entirely oblivious to the two dragons watching him from across the deck. “Blue Dragon can’t be mad forever. But Green Dragon should be honest.” 

Jae-ha chuckled. “Are you suggesting I’m not?”

“Green Dragon is rarely honest,” Zeno quipped with a smile. “Apologize so he stops being angry. Blue Dragon is at his best when he is happy.” Having said what he needed to say, Zeno slipped away to return to the helm where Algira was showing Yona how to steer. 

“Rarely honest…” Jae-ha muttered to himself as he returned to watching Shin-ah. In some ways, he had to admit that was probably true. But Zeno was most certainly right that Shin-ah was better when he was happy, and this sulk had gone on long enough. 

Shin-ah didn’t even look up at him as he approached. “Keep going and there won’t be much left to sharpen,” he said after a few moments of continued silence. 

“... I know how to sharpen it,” came the reply, although it was gruff and clearly irritated. Shin-ah never looked up from his sword.

“Clearly! I just think it’s sharp enough.”

“What do you want?” 

Well, that was abrupt. “Brrrr. So cold, Shin-ah.” 

He slid the whetstone down his blade again. “Below deck would be warm.” 

Jae-ha felt his eyebrow twitch. Sometimes, Jae-ha was so proud when Shin-ah stood up for himself. Watching the person he’d become over the last two years had made his heart swell. Shin-ah’s small smiles brought Jae-ha a warmth he’d never thought he’d experience, his quips made him beam, and being there for every ‘first’ was a gift he never thought he’d be happy to receive.

But he could be an ass when he was being stubborn. 

“Alright,” Jae-ha replied with a bit of an irritated huff. “How long do you intend to be angry?”

“How long do you intend to be overprotective?” Shin-ah snapped back, finally lifting his face from his task to Jae-ha’s. His golden eyes stared daggers into Jae-ha. Yikes.

“Protective, yes. But not over. Just the right amount of protective.”

Shin-ah set the whetstone down and sheathed his sword along his back as he stood. “Then you think I can’t take care of myself,” he concluded.

Jae-ha sighed. “You know that’s not true, stop being so stubborn.” There’d been a moment where it seemed like the pirates could have overwhelmed their small crew. Two full ships, surrounding them on both sides. As powerful as they were, even they could have been defeated in such tight spaces with so many enemies. Shin-ah was going to use his power… Jae-ha had seen him shifting his mask off of his face...

“I’m not, you are,” Shin-ah insisted. “You stopped being so protective of Zeno when he told you to, but you still go out of your way to do it with me. I can handle myself just fine, but you still risk yourself to protect me.”

“Of course you can handle yourself, but I won’t apologize for protecting you.”

“Then you think I can’t control it.”

This was getting irritating. Was he being intentionally obtuse? “That’s not it either, Shin-ah!”

Shin-ah had been completely surrounded, they all were. If Shin-ah timed it right, and so long as he wasn’t interrupted he could take all of the pirates out with his power. But if it wasn’t right… if he was interrupted, if his legs gave out - 

“Then what is it?!” Shin-ah shouted, at the end of his rope and his patience.

If his legs gave out, he would have been killed. Jae-ha hadn’t even thought about it when he flew into the fray to defend Shin-ah, to keep him from using his powers. To stop him from risking himself to save them, which was the very thing Jae-ha was doing. But that was okay. Jae-ha would take on the entire world to keep all of them safe. To make sure Shin-ah never got hurt. Because - 

“I love you!” 

...That wasn’t supposed to come out of his mouth. His eyes were wide as saucers as he stared at Shin-ah, feeling as if his words were echoing across the water. The idle chatter that he could hear in the background had ceased entirely, letting Jae-ha know literally everyone had heard him say the words that he was never, ever supposed to say.

And the only person who really should have been affected by them didn’t seem to care much at all.

“I love you too,” Shin-ah replied, still staring hard at Jae-ha. “We’re family. We protect each other. So let me do it.” And then he left, leaving Jae-ha frozen on the deck as he made his way down below. 

Jae-ha was still frozen, trying to process what had just happened, when someone came up from behind him.

“Zeno didn’t mean that honest,” said the Yellow Dragon. 

\----------------------------

He couldn’t sleep. He tried, oh did he try. Jae-ha even thought maybe he would eventually sleep until he saw the beginnings of dawn peaking through the cracks in the boards above him. He’d gone back and forth in his mind all night, half of him thanking the heavens that Shin-ah had misunderstood. The other half was furious that his confession was so easily brushed off. There were so many women he’d left behind who would have killed to hear him say those words, and Shin-ah just tossed them aside, deeming his confession to be just brotherly love. He was frustrated. Jae-ha had never intended to confess, but now that he had, it left him horribly irritated that Shin-ah didn’t understand. Well, this just wouldn’t do. But, considering how long he’d been holding himself back, it made sense that Shin-ah would assume his outburst was about being family. Surely some context would make the boy understand.

He rose from his cot, feeling not at all rested. The smell of food wafted in from the gally, where Jae-ha found his feet moving him. His stomach grumbled as he stepped into the room, finding Hak sitting alone and eating slowly. The slump of his shoulders showed how tired he must have been from the night shift, so clearly Hak meant to eat and go to bed. Jae-ha made himself a plate and sat down across from him.

“Hey lover boy,” Hak greeted. 

Jae-ha lifted his weary eyes from his plate to level Hak with a flat stare.

“Sorry, lover man.”

“Stones in glass houses, Hak.”

Hak shoved a roll in his mouth. “At least I didn’t get called family afterwards,” he mumbled while chewing. Ouch. Yeah, fair.

“Your words wound me,” Jae-ha said with a smirk as he lifted a spoonful of soup towards his mouth. “Keep talking, I like it rough.”

“You musta loved the way Shin-ah rejected you, then.” 

Jae-ha moved the collar of his robe off his shoulder dramatically. “Oh Hak! You brute! Well, if you must have me then I suppose I can’t blame you~”

“Clothes on.”

Chuckling and deciding this meant victory, Jae-ha obliged and returned to his soup. The two of them ate in relative peaceful silence, up until Hak seemed ready to head to bed.

“You gonna leave it like that?” Hak asked as he stood from his seat.

“Whatever do you mean, Hak?” Jae-ha raised his eyes up from his food, canting his head to the side in an innocent question. 

Hak shrugged as he gathered his dishes and walked them over to the bucket they’d been using as a basin. “You know, maybe all the redirecting is why Shin-ah didn’t get it.” He dumped the dishes into the bucket, wiping his hands against his robe. “Going to bed. Don’t get punched.”

Jae-ha had several quips come to mind as he watched Hak walk out of the gally. He didn’t speak any of them, though. It was because he agreed with Hak. Shin-ah, as observant as he was, tended to have trouble reading between lines. Although his confession had been as direct as they come, his actions didn’t match. Finishing his soup, he formulated a plan. Today would be spent showing Shin-ah what type of love he’d meant.

\----------------------------

He started slow. Anything obvious and Shin-ah would just think he was being teased. Throughout the day, it was a touch here, a graze there. Standing closer than he’d allowed himself to in the past. Intentionally getting in Shin-ah’s space. He asked for help with tasks that would require touching each other, if only for a minute. At first, it was clear Shin-ah didn’t think anything of it. But by the time Jae-ha had asked for his assistance tying down a sail, Shin-ah’s sluggish movements as he walked over showed he suspected something. 

They were mostly alone on their portion of the deck, so if Shin-ah was finally going to realize what Jae-ha had been trying to demonstrate all day, now was the perfect time. 

“Hold this for me, if you would,” Jae-ha asked as he held out a length of rope. Shin-ah complied, albeit reluctantly. 

“I can tie it,” he informed Jae-ha.

“I’m going to show you a proper knot,” was Jae-ha’s response as he walked behind Shin-ah. His hand trailed down Shin-ah’s shoulder. Down… down to his wrist. Jae-ha’s long fingers wrapped around his hand gently. Caressing… there would be no way Shin-ah could misinterpret this.

“If you’re trying to apologize, you should just say it.”

Jae-ha’s hand went stiff. … Was he serious? Shin-ah raised his eyes to meet Jae-ha’s, their beauty taking his breath away. 

“I would prefer it if you would just be honest,” Shin-ah continued in a clear tone. 

His breath took a moment to find him again, but once it did he refused to relent. Jae-ha leaned towards Shin-ah, shifting his eyes down to the Blue Dragon’s parted lips. “I’ve been very honest with you, Shin-ah.”

Shin-ah seemed completely unphased. Not even blinking, he replied quickly. “You’re never honest with me.” He shoved the rope back into Jae-ha’s hands, moving past him towards the sanctuary of a more populated area of the deck. 

Never honest? He’d literally confessed - although his mouth had spoken much without his own permission - and he’d been trying to show Shin-ah all day. How much more honest did the boy want him to be? With a frustrated click of his tongue, Jae-ha quickly tied down the sail. He was all for a good chase, but this was getting ridiculous. It made him want Shin-ah to understand all the more. 

\----------------------------

Evening was coming. Once again, the ocean breeze turned chilly as the sun was setting across the water. Beautiful strokes of colors illuminated the sky: oranges, pinks, purples. All bright and vibrant. It was golden hour, Jae-ha’s favorite time of day. 

When the lingering touches had failed, Jae-ha moved to an approach no one would be able to ignore: the looks. He stared Shin-ah down whenever the opportunity presented itself. Hungry eyes burned into Shin-ah at every moment, and this surely would have to get the man’s attention. The Blue Dragon had always been sensitive - mostly - to when he was being watched. And these looks that Jae-ha was leveling him with weren’t just any look. These were the looks that melted women in the street. These were the ones he used when he was looking for company for the night. His eyes undressed his target, mentally stripping them bare and leaving them open and vulnerable. Prey being hunted. And devoured.

And this clearly worked.

Every time Jae-ha leveled him with a heated gaze, Shin-ah looked visibly affected. The tips of his ears turned red as a blush spread across his cheeks. He’d shift uncomfortably, turn away. Even try to hide from Jae-ha’s piercing eyes.

It was making everyone else a bit uncomfortable too, but Jae-ha found that made it all the more entertaining. It embarrassed Shin-ah even more as well, which was an added bonus. Jae-ha decided it was adequate punishment for being so oblivious to his obvious advances. One by one, everyone else on deck had abandoned them, finding the atmosphere too intense to be around it. Good. Let Shin-ah misunderstand this.

Any time he tried to get away from Jae-ha’s unrelenting stare, Jae-ha would follow him. This was becoming a game for him as the sun sank lower and lower along the horizon. It wasn’t until Shin-ah was quite literally cornered that he finally spoke.

“What… what are you staring at?” Shin-ah demanded as he tried to hide his blush.

“You,” came Jae-ha’s answer as he stepped closer to Shin-ah.

Shin-ah fidgeted uncomfortably. Jae-ha smirked. While he did want to make sure Shin-ah finally understood, he couldn’t help but admit this was becoming so much fun. Cruel, maybe. But then again, Jae-ha never claimed to be kind.

“Why?” 

Jae-ha came ever closer, stepping into Shin-ah’s space so the boy had nowhere to go. His back was pressed against the bulkhead, and lest he intended to climb overboard, there was no escape. 

“You’re beautiful,” Jae-ha replied reverently, his voice breathy and deep. Bringing back the lingering touches, he let his fingers trail up Shin-ah’s arm. The blush across Shin-ah’s cheeks was as red as Yona’s vibrant hair, and it looked like victory. 

“...not…” Shin-ah mumbled.

“You’ll have to speak up.”

Shin-ah looked as frustrated as Jae-ha felt the whole day. Revenge was sweet. The boy’s golden eyes glared up at Jae-ha through his lashes, but the harshness was dwarfed by that lovely rose color across his face. 

“I’m not,” he repeated. “Stop teasing me.”

Jae-ha chuckled low and slow, continuing his fingers’ trail up to Shin-ah’s shoulder. 

“I’m being honest. You told me to be, didn’t you?”

And now Shin-ah was angry. His gaze turned fierce as he pushed himself away from the bulkhead. No longer cowering, Shin-ah was now the one forcing himself into Jae-ha’s space. Alright... perhaps this wasn’t victory after all. 

“Stop lying!” Shin-ah demanded. “Teasing and lying, why? I don’t understand why you keep doing it!”

Oh for the love of - Jae-ha met Shin-ah head on, pushing him back against the bulkhead. Shin-ah’s shouts had lured the attention of their crew mates, and while Jae-ha could hear the curious mutters behind him, he didn’t care. Let them come. If he was embarrassed by the attention, then it was Shin-ah’s own fault for being so dense.

“And I don’t understand why you’re being so daft!”

“Daft, wha-”

Screw it. Jae-ha was tired of trying to talk. He grabbed Shin-ah by the chin and pulled him close. Did he want an audience the first time he kissed Shin-ah? Heavens, no. (Or maybe yes.) But he was too frustrated to care. If anything, anything, was going to make Shin-ah understand, it had to be this kiss. He breathed Shin-ah in, feeling a rush as he finally got what he’d been denying himself for so long. Because he thought Shin-ah uninterested, or he thought the boy too precious to tarnish. But claiming him like this felt so good. There would be no way Jae-ha would deny himself this pleasure again.

Jae-ha had no idea how he ended up in the water.

Somewhere between being literally fished out of the ocean and Hak’s incessant laughter, he learned that while he was kissing Shin-ah, the boy had gotten his arms around Jae-ha’s waist and flipped him over his shoulder. Into the water. Shin-ah panic-tossed him. 

Dripping onto the deck and feeling like a drenched rat, Jae-ha just asked the group formed around him which way the damned brat had run off to, as the deck was mysteriously Shin-ah-less. 

“Blue Dragon was very embarrassed,” Zeno said with a smile. Hak and Algira were choking on their own laughter while Yun just looked exasperated. “He ran below deck.”

“Jae-ha?” Yona spoke quietly as she reached for him. “Are you okay?”

“Feeling quite refreshed, Yona dear. Thank you for the concern.” He pulled himself up from the deck, trying to ignore the unpleasant way his clothes and hair stuck to him. Well, at least it would make for a dramatic picture. A dripping-handsome man storming through the bowels of the ship to find his frustratingly hard-to-get love. 

“Perhaps Green Dragon should use less tricks,” came Zeno’s suggestion as Jae-ha marched across the deck. “Just ask Blue Dragon what he needs.”

“Thanks for the advice, old man.” 

It didn’t take long for Jae-ha to find him. The ship wasn’t particularly large, and it wasn’t meant for cargo so there were only so many places Shin-ah could be. He found him huddled in the corner behind a cot, his knees drawn up to his chest. Jae-ha didn’t even feel remorse as he approached the cowering Blue Dragon. He plopped down onto the cot closest to Shin-ah, shamelessly soaking the sheets beneath him.

“Alright, Shin-ah,” he said with a sigh. “Talk to me. What else can I do to make you understand?”

Silence. Jae-ha waited for a response. More silence. Jae-ha tried to be patient. Even more silence. 

He turned his head towards Shin-ah to find wide, golden eyes peering at him from over the edge of the cot. Shin-ah looked apprehensive, like he was waiting for something bad to happen. It was a cute look - ever frustrating still - but cute. “Well?” he insisted.

“... Sorry… for throwing you…”

Jae-ha stared for a moment to see if Shin-ah intended to say more. As the silence dragged on, it became clear that he didn’t. Exhausted, Jae-ha sighed. “I don’t care about that,” he explained slowly. “I want to know what else I can do to make you understand.” 

“... understand what?”

He sighed again. “Understand that I love you. Not as family.”

Shin-ah’s brows pulled together, confused and frustrated. Always frustrated. “You don’t.... You can’t.”

He’d been ready to protest that yes, he does, but the ‘can’t’ killed that statement on his tongue. Jae-ha pulled himself up from the cot, sitting above Shin-ah and still dripping onto the cloth beneath him.

“Why can’t I?”

There was more silence, but this time Jae-ha could see emotions flitting across Shin-ah’s face. He was working out what to say, and that was fine. Jae-ha had patience enough to allow Shin-ah the time he needed to figure out how to answer, so long as the answer eventually came. It was several long moments before Shin-ah finally opened his mouth. Several more before sound actually came out.

“I’m… not someone… to love… like that,” he said hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure if he was saying the words correctly. “I’m not worth it… I… I’m a…”

When Shin-ah seemed like he couldn’t finish his thought, Jae-ha decided to offer him some assistance. “A monster?”

Based on the way Shin-ah scrunched his face, Jae-ha supposed his assumption had been correct. With a soft smile, Jae-ha reached out his hand to brush a stray hair out of Shin-ah’s eyes. “I thought you stopped seeing yourself like that.”

Shin-ah shook his head. “Never stopped just… accepted it,” he admitted. “It’s okay if I’m a monster if I can be useful.” 

Letting his fingers drag slowly through Shin-ah’s hair, Jae-ha considered his possible responses. He could deny it, and that was probably the obvious choice. Shin-ah was hardly a monster. No one so gentle and accepting could ever be considered monstrous. He was ethereal and wild at times, elegant and beautiful. Kind, warm, and welcoming. But if he still saw himself that way after years… Denying it one more time wouldn’t do much, would it? He understood self-hatred, and it wasn’t something that just went away because someone said it wasn’t true. 

Shin-ah leaned into Jae-ha’s touch. He wasn’t sure if the boy was doing it intentionally or not, but it felt like surrender. 

“I’ve never been fond of people telling me what I could and couldn’t do, Shin-ah.” His fingers moved from Shin-ah’s hair, down his cheek, hooking under his chin. With a little encouragement, he tilted Shin-ah’s face up so the boy was looking at him. “Just makes me want what I can’t have even more. I’m a monster that way.” He moved off of the cot, sliding down onto the floor to be level with Shin-ah. “So that’s alright, isn’t it? Can a monster love another monster?”

Shin-ah never answered. Not verbally, anyway. He searched Jae-ha’s eyes for a long time, so long that Jae-ha wondered if all of this had even been worth it. But, when Shin-ah leaned towards him and rested his head against Jae-ha’s shoulder, it was clear it was. At least the boy most definitely understood now. 

They sat together for a while, huddled behind a cot in the dark. They didn’t move until Shin-ah pulled away suddenly.

“You’re soaked.”

“That’s your fault.”

Shin-ah didn’t deny it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in one draft, sorry if there are typos. I ship Jae-ha x Shin-ah so hard come at me.


End file.
